Will there be a new reversal in Beijing where, in less than 24 hours, Russians and Belarusians were admitted and then excluded, in response to the invasion of Ukraine?

Will the qualifying play-offs for the 2022 World Cup, at the end of March, be played well, as ordered by Fifa, without Russia, organizer of the last World Cup?

The sports authorities of Moscow say their determination to have these sanctions canceled, deemed "discriminatory" and unfair for their athletes.

In a press release, the Russian football federation announced that it would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against its exclusion from the World Cup and all international competitions, decided on February 28 jointly by Fifa and UEFA. , the international and European football federations.

The two authorities "did not rely on any legal basis to exclude the Russian teams. This decision violates the fundamental rights of the Russian Federation", indignantly the latter, considering that the decision was taken "under pressure from its opponents direct", especially Poland.

The Polish federation has indeed multiplied the announcements to affirm that Poland would not play under any pretext against Russia during the play-offs of March 24, qualifiers for the World Cup in Qatar, scheduled from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

A position shared by his Swedish and Czech counterparts, potential opponents of the Russians in the next round.

"Accelerated" procedure?

“The Russian Federation also did not have the right to explain its position, which violates the fundamental right of defense”, also advances the Moscow body, which requests an “accelerated examination”.

An accelerated examination that the CAS is not required to grant, nor is it forced to freeze the decisions taken pending a decision on the merits.

The building housing the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on December 17, 2020 in Lausanne Fabrice COFFRINI AFP / Archives

Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin, for his part, announced a similar appeal to reinstate Russia in the Paralympic Winter Games.

He hopes to obtain a decision "before the opening ceremony", scheduled for Friday at midday in Europe.

Late Thursday afternoon, the CAS told AFP that it had not yet received any Russian appeal.

If these are well filed, the courts seized will have in their hands an extremely sensitive file: a reinstatement of Russian athletes and selections would be a first Russian victory after several days of generalized banishment.

A maintenance of these sanctions would, on the contrary, undoubtedly set a precedent in a world of sport that has often been reluctant to venture into the political arena.

To justify their decisions, UEFA and Fifa contented themselves with pointing out that "the Bureau of the Council of Fifa and the Executive Committee of UEFA" were "the highest decision-making bodies of these two organizations when it comes to urgent matters".

"We are waiting for peace"

Asked at a football forum in London hosted by the Financial Times on Thursday, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said he did not know when Russia and Russian clubs could be reinstated in European competitions.

"At the moment it's impossible to say," he said.

"Our decision at that time was the only right decision, a unanimous decision for the members of the UEFA executive committee. What will happen tomorrow, nobody knows. I cannot give you an answer. For the hour, it stays that way and we are waiting for peace."

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin during the Nations Cup semi-final between Italy and Spain on October 6, 2021 in Milan Marco BERTORELLO POOL/AFP/Archives

UEFA also announced on Thursday that Belarusian teams should play their European home matches on neutral ground.

For the moment, Fifa has not pronounced any measure against Belarus.

Between canceled competitions, non-grata athletes and teams, broken sponsorship contracts, Russia has been the target of a wave of sanctions from the sports world in recent days.

© 2022 AFP